Akihabara: Land of Anime, Electronics & Maid Cafés

This weekend marks one year in Japan for me! We celebrated by accomplishing a major milestone; taking the train into Tokyo for a day trip with our six month old. Sure, some moms have been doing this since the beginning, but it was always easier for us to just drive and spend the night. Let’s be real, who has the time or money to spend $40 on tolls and $100 on a hotel room every time we want to go to Tokyo? Day trip it is. We got this! Our destination: Akihabara.

Taking the train was easier than I thought it would be. It was crowded, but one of the pros to using a baby carrier? On our way there and back somebody gave up their seat for me and the baby.

Akihabara is known for being the electronics hub of Tokyo. Stopping by Yodobashi Camera to use their nursing room, I marveled at this nine story building that is brimming with electronics and appliances on all nine floors. Literally every electronic item you could ever dream of, you can find here.

Otaku Central

There’s a Japanese term, otaku, that means somebody who is obsessed with anime, video games and electronics. Akihabara is the ultimate tourist destination for an otaku. Although I initially thought that an otaku just meant a hardcore fan, it is much more than that. It means that you play the role of creator in your favorite anime or manga. You might write fan fiction, make custom t-shirts, or dress up as your favorite characters. You participate in this culture through creation. Japan came up with a word for this: nijisousaku, or secondary production.

We passed by a convention center that had a line wrapped around the building waiting for an event. This woman was standing outside handing out flyers, waving to passersby, and posing for pictures.

Maid Cafés

The first maid cafés originated in Akihabara in the early 2000s. These restaurants gained popularity very quickly, spreading to other parts of Japan and even other countries. The young women are dressed like real life manga characters, with short frilly dresses, cat ears, and knee high stockings. Inside the café, they often speak in cutesy high pitched voices, prance around, draw smiley faces on your food, and sing to your drinks as they set them on the table. Some men mistake the cafés as a part of the sex industry and act inappropriately, says a maid in this interview with BuzzFeed. But the maids are just there for entertainment. They’re there to have fun with you, to pretend to be cats, sing to you, and give you the ultimate restaurant experience.

Look at the cute food on this menu! Teddy bear omelettes and baby animal parfaits. So kawaii! Although we didn’t eat at a maid café, we passed plenty of maids standing on the streets waving at us and directing people inside. They didn’t pay too much attention to us though. As a family, I suppose we aren’t really their target market.

Hostess Bar

Another interesting phenomenon we witnessed was a young Japanese woman holding a sign that read 2000¥/40 minutes. The rest of the sign was in Japanese, but our best guess was that it was a hostess bar. Again, this is not necessarily part of the sex industry. You’re paying for female companionship.  Come inside, choose a companion from the list, and a pretty girl will come sit and chat with you. You’ll buy her drinks, maybe sing some karaoke together, and have a lighthearted conversation. In a country where businessmen work long hours and being single is the norm, hostess bars are one of many Japanese anti-loneliness cures.

This entertainment industry actually spans back centuries, with some people saying hostesses are modern day geisha. This Youtube video helps explain how Japanese people view the hostesses in society. Although I knew it was pretty mainstream, I was surprised to learn that one in four Japanese women has worked in the industry.

Lunchtime Decisions

We ended up getting curry for lunch. Japanese curry is very different than the Indian curry I am used to eating. It’s typically mild and has a completely different flavor base. When deciding on a restaurant, we have a few criteria we’re looking for. Is there room for our baby? What about a long line? Is it completely empty? Some restaurants are extremely small, with the only seating being on barstools facing the chef (bar-style). There’s no room for us to put our stroller or room for our daughter to sit next to us!

We were looking for a place where we didn’t have to wait in line but also where we didn’t question why it was empty. The answer was a small curry restaurant called at Curry no Shimin Alba. We ordered at the computer screen right inside the doorway. There was no English menu but with the help of Google Translate and the pictures, we ordered our meals.

Eating out in Japan is always a pleasant experience. The servers don’t come and bother you throughout your meal. Doesn’t it seem like waitresses always find the most inopportune moment to ask if you need a water refill, or to ask how the meal tastes? At Japanese restaurants you can eat in peace. There’s typically a service button on the table that rings back to the kitchen if you need something. A water pitcher is already on the table. If not, there’s a water canister nearby where you can get your own water.

One Year as a Gaijin!

I’ve officially been a gaijin, or “foreigner” in Japan for one year! Akihabara was an excellent way to spend my Japan-niversary. I can’t believe how quickly one year flew by. It seems like I was just writing a blog post about my very first trip into Tokyo a few days ago! So much can happen in one year: moving to Japan, spending a few months in Okinawa, giving birth to the most awesome little human ever, and just the whole amazing experience of creating our own little family.  My husband is the best fellow adventurer I could’ve ever asked for and we love being able to share it all with our little one. Time’s flying by and I’m doing my best to live in the moment, explore as much as I can, and just enjoy all the amazing changes one year has blessed me with.